


Faded

by LionessRinoaVIII



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Distance, Endgame, F/M, Fall Out Boy Lyrics, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, Magic, One Shot, POV First Person, Promised Meadow, Song Lyrics, Sorceresses, Squall Leonhart being Squall Leonhart, Teen Romance, The Successor Challenge, Ultimecia’s Castle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25923340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LionessRinoaVIII/pseuds/LionessRinoaVIII
Summary: My submission for the sixth annual Successor Challenge. Set during the final cutscene of Final Fantasy VIII, about the physical distance between Squall and Rinoa. Rinoa knows she has to save the love of her life, by showing him that he is not and was never alone. Fluff and mild teenage angst! Rinoa's POV. Song fic to Tiffany Blews by Fall Out Boy.
Relationships: Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Faded

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xadrea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xadrea/gifts).



_ Oh, baby you’re a classic, like a little black dress. You’re a faded moon, stuck on a little hot mess. Oh, baby you’re a classic, like a little black dress. But you’ll be faded soon, stuck on a little hot mess. _

Wind swept wisps of silken onyx hair into the spring afternoon and whispered quietly through the trees as time seemed to slow to a stop. The gentle pink of cherry blossoms splashed the lonely ground, and love, the single bloom that meant anything in the moments that Time Compression swallowed, seemed as far from me now as it had been in the beginning. Love, whose name began with S and brought to mind the kind of storms that changed the world—he had promised me this meeting, this...meadow, which belonged to us and us alone. And yet, as I stood alone across the vast and beautiful scape of nature, I knew the distance had been too great for him. 

My mind was stuck on the final words Squall had spoken to me before the final confrontation with  Ultimecia . An eerie orange glow permeated the small space, and the walls that surrounded us were coated in a fine dust. Art galleries were meant to inspire, to showcase talent and beauty, and yet the only beauty found in  Ultimecia’s castle, was the gentle steel gaze of the eyes that spoke silently from Squall’s position on the aging marble balcony. He leaned over it slightly, his lips formed into hard fine scowl. The powder blue of my duster popped vibrantly as it skirted the dirty floor below, and I had my hands folded behind my back as I leaned forward to peer at the intricate clock painted upon the cracks in the old floor. 

“The hands are pointing to VIII, IV, and VI. That has to mean something, right?” I asked, tapping my chin in curiosity as I gazed at the gallery of paintings. I was becoming bored of this riddle. Zell had wandered off to find a mechanism of some sort to unlock the door, and that had left Squall and I the perfect opportunity to talk. We were unlikely to get another before what I was sure would be the battle to end them all. Squall’s gloomy expression didn’t lift, and he jammed his hands into the pockets of his leather pants as if he felt uncomfortable. 

“...whatever.  So what if it does? I don’t want to talk about it.” There was a razor edge to the tone of his voice, but when he noticed the sadness that touched my eyes, he seemed to soften instantaneously. I appreciated that much more than he would ever realize. “I. ..let me come down there. We need to talk.” 

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I nodded. I was always happy to entertain the idea that Squall wanted to open up to me. It had been a long road, getting to where we were in our budding relationship. I didn’t want to squander a moment of it. I watched him descend the staircase, and my heart stuttered in my chest at the sight. His long brunette bangs hung like curtains, framing his pointed face. Uncharacteristically innocent grey-blue eyes were separated by a long scar that ran from the top right of his forehead to the tip of his left cheek, and I hummed as I admired the subtle way his lips parted from their near-permanent frown when he looked at me. “Penny for your thoughts, Squall?”

When he reached the base of the stairs, his long arms snaked around my hips and I was pulled firmly against the leather of his signature bomber jacket. “I need you to be honest with me.” He finally said, after a long moment of silence. “I’ve...fallen for you. I need you to tell me that you understand what that means.”

I’m sure that my expression was priceless. I let out a gleeful laugh, and delicately brought my fingers up to stroke the Griever ring that was nestled beside my mother’s wedding band on my necklace. “It means that you love me! I. ..I’m in love with you too, Squall.” I felt my face flush scarlet. It began as a blush, but it slowly faded into the pinkish tint of  embarrassment at his lackluster reaction.

I thought he’d be happier to hear it, but he let out a laugh that didn’t quite meet his eyes. “That’s not what I meant.” 

“Oh.” It felt like rejection, like he was putting an end to the beautiful spark that was just beginning to ignite between us. My eyes filled with unshed tears, and I locked my jaw to keep my lips from quivering as I pulled away from him. Luckily Squall is a quick learner, and the panic that suddenly poured from his body was  palpable . 

“What? No!” He flung his arm out to the side, like he always did when he was passionate about something. It was a mannerism that I had come to adore. His touch was desperate as he found his way back to my body and reached for my hands. “I didn’t mean...Rinoa, I do love you. If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He looked like he was struggling with his words, and I realized that I wasn’t being fair. I needed to be patient with Squall. He wasn’t used to depending on other people, it was something that was hard for him. 

His hair was soft as I gingerly reached to brush it from his eyes. I wanted to be closer to him, and I was happy that he nuzzled his cheek into my caress. I held my hand there as I spoke, and the vulnerability in his eyes spoke to my heart in a way that his words just weren’t capable of. “Help me understand, then.” 

Squall’s eyes were glued to the floor, but he squeezed me as he spoke. “I need to know that you’re prepared. I am your Knight. I am ready for the responsibility that comes to being devoted to you. To protecting you. But...are  _ you  _ ready? You’ll...likely need to join Garden. You will have to  fight, which I know you hate. You will occasionally have to be separated from me for weeks or months at a time, when I’m working a contract. Any shred of a life we may have together is not going to be easy.” His words hung between us awkwardly for several beats, and there was nothing to be heard in the room save for his gentle breathing. He swallowed hard, and when he finally looked at  me I almost wished he hadn’t. The pain nestled in those sweet eyes wounded and disarmed me. “Your life would be so much happier without me in it. I just want what is best for you. You’re classic, beautiful, kind...and I’m...a mess.”

He threaded his fingers in my hair and leaned in to delicately press a kiss to the center of my forehead. I wanted to argue with him, to tell him that I was just as devoted as he was, and more than willing to pay any price in the world to keep him by my side. I opened my mouth, but shut it again as Zell suddenly reentered the room. Squall immediately recoiled from me, and Zell pretended not to notice the display of affection that he’d interrupted. “There  ain’t a switch, we’re  gonna have to figure this stupid thing out if we  wanna know what’s beyond that door.”

Just like that, the conversation had died on my lips, and now...now I waited. I knew my Squall. I knew that his heart was brimming with a love that terrified him, and that wherever he was, he was finding it difficult to take Laguna’s advice. He had woken up alone, how could we have expected him to believe blindly that we were enough to bring him home? I had to do something. 

_ You’re a Sorceress. You can do this.  _ I closed my eyes, and for a moment the gentle breeze that tickled the flowers became one with my body. Magic pulsed in my veins, and I felt the strange sensation of power surging from deep within me, like a current of vibrating electricity. I had sent out a feather, in the hopes that it would lead him back to me, but that had failed. It was my turn to come and rescue him. 

It is difficult to describe adequately what Time Compression felt like, but as a Sorceress, it was as if the universe whispered to me. I suddenly knew things that I should not, and the planet, as it spoke, made it more than clear that my fate was sealed. I knew that the love that had been meant for Laguna and my mother, that had been destroyed by cruel circumstances beyond anyone’s control, was meant to live on in the form of the connection blossoming between Squall and I. “Connector.” I muttered, completely surprised by the wealth of knowledge that ebbed and flowed from the core of Gaia to the depths of my mind.

The spell sparkled brightly as it left my body, and a vibrant red line was suddenly linked to me by the little finger on my left hand. It was iridescent, and I was sure it was visible only to me. It was a thread, the thread that tied my heart and my future to Squall.  _ I’m coming for you. Just stay close to me, remember?  _ I wasn’t about to let anything happen to him. He needed to know he was loved. He had once said he didn’t want friends that wouldn’t be there tomorrow, and I was bound and determined to prove to him that he wasn’t the only person being depended on. He could count on me, too. 

I seemed to walk aimlessly through the void forever. Our thread was long, or perhaps it was more so that Squall was very far away from me. The lush foliage of our promised meadow faded into a distant memory, and before long my combat boots were marching along a parched and desolate desert plain. Fear clawed its way up my throat, and sorrow clutched at my heart. The thought of the summation of Squall’s fears leaving him frightened and abandoned in a suffocating and dead wasteland was unbearable. Thunder cracked overhead, and I burst into a sprint. I refused to allow my body to slow, until the moment I put eyes on the limp  silhouette of the man I loved. 

I approached him slowly, and dropped to my knees as my tears finally spilled. “Squall.” I tugged him into my lap, but his skin was ice cold and he wasn’t breathing. I had failed him. I very tenderly ran my fingers through his hair, expecting any moment for him to pop up and tell me to get off of him, or put his stupid hand to his forehead and mutter under his breath. He never did.  _ No. You can’t leave me. You promised.  _

_ I can make your heart slow. I can feel the weather in my bones. Wish hard enough, I can turn it to what I like. Your pupils, they’re big, they’re rolling like dice; they say they only want the best wishes for me.  _

It wasn’t ending this way. I wouldn’t allow it.  _ Please. Do not go where I cannot follow.  _ I pulled Squall’s head against me and buried my face into his chest. I loved him. Nothing else mattered anymore. Not the liberation of Timber, not the Time Compression, not That Man and his stupid  Galbadian army. In that moment, all that mattered in the world was being with Squall. My heart felt like it was going to explode and just in that moment magic and an excruciating love and heartache exploded from by being. The world around us transformed beneath our feet, and the skies cleared into a beautiful crystalline blue. The sudden rise and fall of Squall’s chest warmed me, and I pulled back to look at him as those gorgeous eyes fluttered open. 

I had brought the meadow to us. The desert exploded with life, and green ran for as long as the eye could see. Pink petals and feathers that had detonated from my back swirled between the two of us, and I felt my chest tremble with sobs of joy as those perfect lips curled into a half-smile. 

“R-Rinoa?”

“I’m right here.” I whispered. “I will never leave you.” It was a promise. The world around us seemed to settle, and the thread that was tied tightly around both our fingers faded. The atmosphere felt  corporeal , and I suddenly realized that we were home. We were in  _ the  _ meadow, the real one behind the orphanage in our time.

Squall let out a weak chuckle, and to my surprise, he didn’t make a single attempt to move from my embrace. He reached a gloved hand to cup my cheek, and I kissed the palm of his hand as we lay there. “I told you I was a mess.”

I laughed as thick tears rolled down my cheeks and gently ebbed them away with the back of his hand. “You’re  _ my  _ mess. And for the record, my life is a thousand times better with you in it.” 

His smile was brighter than the hot midday sun, and it was something I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to. Squall should always smile like that. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. He poked at the Griever ring that dangled between my breast and smirked. “I guess this is the one thing I can count on lasting forever, then?”

I stuck my tongue out at him and slapped him playfully on the arm of his thick leather jacket. “It better be forever, mister! You really scared me!” In that moment, we knew that it would be. Our lives and hearts would be interconnected for the rest of our lives, and the future laid out before us would see us shatter any distance that could ever wedge itself between us. And we did.

_ Oh, baby you’re a classic, like a little black dress. You’re a faded moon, stuck on a little hot mess. Oh, baby you’re a classic, like a little black dress. But you’ll be faded soon, stuck on a little hot mess. _

**Author's Note:**

> Characters belong to Square Enix.


End file.
